Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Macher Chop/Maacher Chop -- or a Fish Croquette

I made Maacher Chop on Saturday.

Perfect accompaniment to Argentina playing Netherlands.

Bongs love Maacher Chop. They also love Football. It is hard to say which they love better.

This version of Maacher chop is an easier one, more like a croquette. The real Maacher Chop has an outer casing of potato, stuffed with a separately cooked spicy fish stuffing, the whole of which is then deep fried. Just thinking of it makes my mouth water and not watch Football and cry because Maradona has aged, and Batista does not play and I have lost the passion to become a fan.

In short THATMaacher Chop is much more work than THIS Maacher Chop. If you raise an eyebrow, I will say "Thank You, This is the most I can do in servantless US of A. If you don't want a bite, you are more than welcome"

The roundup for "Of Chalks and Chopsticks" will be up in a couple of days. Bear with me till then and fry some Fish Chops and get yourself a cup of tea.

I had 3 standard sized Tilapia Fillet and I made about 14 croquettes/chop

Cook the fillet of fish in the MW for 5-6 minutes. I would suggest do it in intervals of 3 minutes each. I had Tilapia fillet which was frozen and it took me 6 minutes to cook it fully. Yours might take like 3-4 minutes.

Cook one potato whole in the MW. Prick the potato with a fork mercilessly and then wrap in a plastic cling wrap. Zap in the MW for Baked Potato setting which is like 3 minutes. I think I learned the MW trick from Nupur (or is it someone else ?)

In a big mixing bowl put the cooked fish, breaking and crumbling it. Add 1 tsp of lime juice.Once the potato has cooled, peel and mash it. With your hand mix the fish and potatoes to make a smooth mix

Heat about 2 tsp of oil in a frying pan. Add 1 clove of garlic minced. When fragrant, fry about 1 cup of onion till it is soft and browns on the edges. Add 1 tsp of Garlic paste, 1 tsp of Ginger paste, 4 green chili chopped fine and fry for couple more minutes.Add the above to the fish + potato mixNext add1 tsp of fresh Garam Masala1/2 tsp of Paprika (or Red Chili Powder if you want it hot)1 tsp of Coriander Chutney (or 1-2 tbsp fresh chopped Corriander)salt to taste15-20 golden raisinsa little sugar(optional)Mix everything well with hand till you get a smooth dough like mix.Fashion your chop either like flat discs or make oblong shapes. Now prepare for frying and set up the following

a plate of all purpose flour --> Egg Wash --> a flat platter with Seasoned Bread Crumbs -->You can deep fry these or shallow fry. I would suggest deep frying for the full on tasteNote: I season the bread crumbs with garlic-pepper powderRoll the croquet in flour --> Dip the chop/croquette in egg wash --> roll in bread crumbs --> shallow fry till golden brown on both sides. It tastes better if you can deep fry though.Note: After rolling in bread crumbs , I leave them in the refrigerator for an hour or two. Then I roll them in bread crumbs for the second time and then shallow fryServe with chopped onion, mustard and Ketchup.

Note: You can freeze the chops in a single layer before frying. Keeps well for a week. Deep fry in hot oil after taking out. The frozen croquettes might take longer to get heated inside so fry twice

I have heard that Bengalis and Keralites are the only 2 states in India who love Football more than Cricket. Wonder why?Macher Chop looks wonderful, pics are great, looks like somebody stole few bites already!;DMy son loves Seafood more than anybody here at home. I must try Tilapia once. Take care, I will be back in July. Hugs to you and little ones too!:))

This is the way my mom makes it, but last week, I decided to take an even shorter cut and just mixed raw ginger-garlic paste, onion and spices to the potato-fish mixture and made croquettes with them. I was afraid the raw garlic-ginger taste would come through but they tasted just fine. I would love to try THAT authentic Bengali chop some day.

It was Jamai shoshti, i guess last week(thursday), My mom told me to prepare all good stuff, especially Maach for her Jamai... so tried these fish croquette..oh!!! they were awesome... my hubby loved it... Shob gulo kheye nilo..

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About Me

Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine